Misery, Monsoons and Karaoke!
The past week has been tough, probably the toughest week we’ve had so far in our 6 months in Thailand. It’s been the sort of week when I’ve questioned why we’re even here when we could be this miserable anywhere in the World! But somehow, and I don’t really know how we’ve survived to do it all over again.
On reflection, I’m probably being somewhat dramatic as nothing really that bad has happened, we’ve both just been very busy and under a lot of pressure at work which hasn’t left much time for anything else. This is no different to what anyone else who has a job is facing, but for me, it feels like such a waste of our time here if we just follow the work, eat, sleep, repeat routine.
I feel like we’re incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity to live in such a weird and wonderful country, I just don’t want to waste it. I think it’s like the ‘fear of missing out’, or ‘FOMO’, a term that younger, cooler people might use. You believe that everyone is out there having these amazing experiences and you’re just living a really mundane existence. Then you spend time fretting about this and it just adds to the misery! The fact is that we’re not on an extended vacation in Thailand, the lifestyle is excellent for the most part, there will just be sometimes when we have to work a bit harder to maintain that lifestyle.
This week I have also experienced a few pangs of homesickness, possibly linked to the above or maybe just a coincidence. I started listening to a few UK podcasts, nothing particularly deep and meaningful, but just nicely familiar. I also wrote the Wasps fan blog in the Coventry Telegraph this week, which brought back lots of great memories. It’s strange to feel like this after 6 months but I think because our lives have changed so dramatically, it isn’t natural to think that much about how things were before. It’s like if things had only changed a little bit, I’d think about the UK more often, but because things are so different, I’ve just completely separated the old life from this new one.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom this week though! I ate lunch in the middle of what I would describe as a monsoon, but Thai people think is just a normal rain shower. Where we’d chosen for lunch was the typical outside but covered restaurant, normally offering sufficient protection from the elements. But it was raining so hard, that a fine spray was invading the normally sheltered area and soaking everything. Various electrical items were quickly gathered up, but not clearly not quick enough to prevent a power cut. But nothing gets in the way of lunch in Thailand so after rearranging all the tables and chairs and a quick wipe down, we ate a delicious feast, albeit in semi-darkness as the power did not return.
I also experienced my first Thai karaoke party. I have previously observed that Thai people need little reason for a party; they also need absolutely zero encouragement to have a good old singalong! I am quite a big fan of karaoke myself, having dazzled audiences with my rendition of Barry Manilow’s ‘Copacabana’ on many occasions. You’d normally expect people to need a bit of time to build up their courage before their first song and to maybe be a little tentative initially. This is not the case in Thailand, you go from zero to everyone dancing and singing in a matter of minutes.
And they all know all the words to every song! As the only Farang there, they were desperate to find songs with English lyrics for me to tackle, but the selection was limited, to say the least. Even though I listen to music regularly and don’t shy away from singing along in the privacy of my own shower, trying to perform a karaoke version of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ when the backing track doesn’t give you many clues was nigh on impossible. It didn’t really matter though – I think it was the taking part that counted, or at least I hope that was the case. The only song that I did pretty well on was Jesse Jay’s ‘Price Tag’, and I even threw in some dance moves, which I will probably live to regret. And obviously, everyone captured these moments on video so I imagine I will get to relive the whole experience when I least expect it.
Stop Being So Dramatic!
On reflection, I’m probably being somewhat dramatic as nothing really that bad has happened, we’ve both just been very busy and under a lot of pressure at work which hasn’t left much time for anything else. This is no different to what anyone else who has a job is facing, but for me, it feels like such a waste of our time here if we just follow the work, eat, sleep, repeat routine.
I feel like we’re incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity to live in such a weird and wonderful country, I just don’t want to waste it. I think it’s like the ‘fear of missing out’, or ‘FOMO’, a term that younger, cooler people might use. You believe that everyone is out there having these amazing experiences and you’re just living a really mundane existence. Then you spend time fretting about this and it just adds to the misery! The fact is that we’re not on an extended vacation in Thailand, the lifestyle is excellent for the most part, there will just be sometimes when we have to work a bit harder to maintain that lifestyle.
Homesick!
This week I have also experienced a few pangs of homesickness, possibly linked to the above or maybe just a coincidence. I started listening to a few UK podcasts, nothing particularly deep and meaningful, but just nicely familiar. I also wrote the Wasps fan blog in the Coventry Telegraph this week, which brought back lots of great memories. It’s strange to feel like this after 6 months but I think because our lives have changed so dramatically, it isn’t natural to think that much about how things were before. It’s like if things had only changed a little bit, I’d think about the UK more often, but because things are so different, I’ve just completely separated the old life from this new one.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom this week though! I ate lunch in the middle of what I would describe as a monsoon, but Thai people think is just a normal rain shower. Where we’d chosen for lunch was the typical outside but covered restaurant, normally offering sufficient protection from the elements. But it was raining so hard, that a fine spray was invading the normally sheltered area and soaking everything. Various electrical items were quickly gathered up, but not clearly not quick enough to prevent a power cut. But nothing gets in the way of lunch in Thailand so after rearranging all the tables and chairs and a quick wipe down, we ate a delicious feast, albeit in semi-darkness as the power did not return.
My First Karaoke
I also experienced my first Thai karaoke party. I have previously observed that Thai people need little reason for a party; they also need absolutely zero encouragement to have a good old singalong! I am quite a big fan of karaoke myself, having dazzled audiences with my rendition of Barry Manilow’s ‘Copacabana’ on many occasions. You’d normally expect people to need a bit of time to build up their courage before their first song and to maybe be a little tentative initially. This is not the case in Thailand, you go from zero to everyone dancing and singing in a matter of minutes.
And they all know all the words to every song! As the only Farang there, they were desperate to find songs with English lyrics for me to tackle, but the selection was limited, to say the least. Even though I listen to music regularly and don’t shy away from singing along in the privacy of my own shower, trying to perform a karaoke version of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ when the backing track doesn’t give you many clues was nigh on impossible. It didn’t really matter though – I think it was the taking part that counted, or at least I hope that was the case. The only song that I did pretty well on was Jesse Jay’s ‘Price Tag’, and I even threw in some dance moves, which I will probably live to regret. And obviously, everyone captured these moments on video so I imagine I will get to relive the whole experience when I least expect it.
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